"Commentary from P.M. Carpenter"

February 17, 2013

A MASSIVE cover-up

It's not unreasonable to have questions about the Benghazi affair. It's natural, given the fog of mayhem that day, that uncertainties would linger. And since a global superpower's response to such a surprise assault would entail the reactions of vast and interlocking but still separate and quite human bureaucracies, from Defense to CIA to State to the White House, it is hardly shocking that mysterious gaps and logical lapses would appear in the record.

That, anyway, would be a fair conclusion reached by most any reasonable person.

So how did Sen. John McCain, appearing on today's "Meet the Press," frame the gnawing uncertainties he has about Benghazi? Why, as a "massive cover-up on the part of the administration," of course. Not as inescapable gaps, or inevitable human errors, or logical lapses, or even as a mere cover-up, which in itself begins to travel into obstruction-of-justice territory. No, this is a massive cover-up.

Yeah, that should do it. When your standard-issue hysteria isn't working, crank it up. Avoid fair conclusions and calm reasonableness at all costs. Yeah, most voters really admire that.

Comments

A MASSIVE cover-up

It's not unreasonable to have questions about the Benghazi affair. It's natural, given the fog of mayhem that day, that uncertainties would linger. And since a global superpower's response to such a surprise assault would entail the reactions of vast and interlocking but still separate and quite human bureaucracies, from Defense to CIA to State to the White House, it is hardly shocking that mysterious gaps and logical lapses would appear in the record.

That, anyway, would be a fair conclusion reached by most any reasonable person.

So how did Sen. John McCain, appearing on today's "Meet the Press," frame the gnawing uncertainties he has about Benghazi? Why, as a "massive cover-up on the part of the administration," of course. Not as inescapable gaps, or inevitable human errors, or logical lapses, or even as a mere cover-up, which in itself begins to travel into obstruction-of-justice territory. No, this is a massive cover-up.

Yeah, that should do it. When your standard-issue hysteria isn't working, crank it up. Avoid fair conclusions and calm reasonableness at all costs. Yeah, most voters really admire that.